Happy Blogoversary!!!

To you my fellow readers, without whom this whole experience would feel very solitary, I offer some cupcakes!

(the Man of the House brought these home last night, and let me tell you, the two we ate were de-li-cious!)

So, this is the post where, every year, I exclaim about how so much time has passed, and how I can’t believe I’m still working on my blog. The sentiment still holds after three years, and I don’t feel like stopping any time soon!

Though my master’s degree might take more of my free time in the coming year, I do have great plans for the Infinite Shelf; in 2012, I want to get my own domain, renew the blog’s look and decide which direction I want to take with it. I’ve had on my mind to create a separate blog for my photography and other hobbies for a little while, because I fear various posts on knitting, photography, cooking might drive people away from the Shelf. I love to know other aspects of book bloggers’ lives, but surely not everyone feels the same. What do you think?

* * *

For now, because lists and stats are always fun, here are a few numbers for the shelf’s past 3 years!

90,254 visitors (that’s twice as much as this time last year! impressive!)

The Man of the House, who entertains me with his jokes, like “Don’t you have too many books?” and “Why buy more books? You already got two last week!” He’s so funny! And very understanding of my silliness, I must add. 🙂

You, my dear readers and bloggers, for keeping me company, putting new books on my shelves and commenting on the Infinite Shelf.

♥ I love you! ♥

Two years… I can’t believe it’s only been two years since I started that little blog!

I feel like it’s been both shorter and longer : some days, I feel new at this, and yet I can’t remember what I was doing of all my free time in that pre-blog era. Well, okay, I do remember; but it’s so long ago my memory is like a big blur. Two years! In all honesty, I never thought I’d last that long. My previous attempts at blogging had been, to say the least, failures.

But two years, and despite school and health and life, I’m still here! Happy blogoversary! 😀

I find that anniversaries, more than New Year celebrations, always give me an occasion to look back on before and look forward to what may come. This is true of my birthday, this is also true of this blog’s anniversary. I look at everything I wrote about in the last two years, books and photography and knitting and other, and I wonder ; what will I share here in the coming year(s)? Will I read different books, change the way I review them? Will I introduce new topics (like I recently did with my knitting), change the blog’s look many times, create a new pen name?

The question of “what will be” also brings an other : how many more anniversaries will there be? I’m not pessimistic here, not at all; but I know a time will come when I’ll probably have to choose to let the blog go. Studying takes more and more of my time, and it will certainly be even truer when I start my master next year. Or maybe the blog will have a new direction… who knows what might happen? I’m curious, and a bit anxious, but mostly excited to see what will happen : I hope I’ll be able to keep the blog up as long as I can, changing it along if I have to!

A fun way to look at what has been : statistics and lists! I never tire of those :-p

As promised, here it is : the first giveaway to celebrate my blogoversary!

One winner will have the chance to read those 6 YA titles ; scroll down for more details on what you can get, and how you can get it!

What You can Win :

All books are in NEW condition!

Devil’s Kiss by Sarwat Chadda : First in a series. “As the youngest and only female member of the Knights Templar, Bilquis SanGreal grew up knowing she wasn’t normal. Instead of hanging out at the mall or going on dates, she spends her time training as a soldier in her order’s ancient battle against the Unholy…”

Graceling by Kristin Cashore : First in a series (although from what I understand, Fire, the second book, is more like a prequel) “In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.”

Stardust by Neil Gaiman : Stand alone. “What happens when you make a promise to bring back a fallen star? Teenager Tristran Thorn is about to find out, as he ventures beyond the wall of his English countryside town. After falling in love with the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester, he sets out on a quest to fulfill his promise to his beloved—and stumbles into the magical realm that lies beyond.”

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan : Stand alone. “It all starts when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes. He only needs five minutes to avoid his ex-girlfriend, who’s just walked in to his band’s show. With a new guy. And then, with one kiss, Nick and Norah are off on an adventure set against the backdrop of New York City…”

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mean : First in a series. “St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run…”

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine : First in a series. “Due to advanced placement, Claire can start college early, but her parents refuse to allow her to go to the distant Ivy League school of her dreams. She goes to Texas Prairie University where she is tormented by the popular girls—but that’s the least of her worries. Morganville, home of the university, is also home to vampires and vampire hunters. Claire finds protection from the horrors of the town in the Glass House with three fellow outcasts, Goth girl Eve, rebellious Shane, and Michael, who disappears during the day…”

And Now, the Rules :

Due to the size of the prize, this giveaway is sadly open to US & Canada only. (But don’t worry, International giveaways are coming soon!)

Giveaway ends on February 10th, 2010

To enter, leave a message answering one of these questions : “Which book are you most looking forward to among these?” or “Supposing you win, if you are planning on offering these books or some of them to someone else, who will be this lucky person?” 🙂 If you don’t answer, you entry will not count

Get a second entry by linking to this giveaway via Twitter OR your blog (one or the other; NOT both). Leave a separate comment.

Happy Anniversary!

The Infinite Shelf is today celebrating its one year in existence!

That’s right; today, I can officially say that I’ve been blogging for a year. I have to say, I’m quite impressed : I tried starting a blog so many times in the past, that I never thought this one would actually stick. As much as I complain again and again about how fast time goes, the day I wrote my first awkward post seems really far in the past…

Today, I just want to share some statistics with you all (since I LOVE statistics, for some weird reason!)

fantasy vampires – vampire sensual – hot vampire fantasy : this seems to be a common theme in search terms leading readers to the Infinite Shelf. Seriously!? Well, okay, I like vampires, but I have a feeling these people may not have found what they were looking for here…

devouring paper bricks : hmm, not recommended?

Of Course, I didn’t do all this all by myself, and so as I celebrate, I wanted to say a HUGE, very HUGE THANK YOU to all of you for following me, commenting, recommending books, helping me when I needed help. I really do appreciate it, and to celebrate both the blog and your presence around it, I have many giveaways and entertaining posts coming in the next weeks.